Steelers Takeaways: T.J Watt Destroys Worlds, Don’t-Wreck Offense Does It’s Job, For Now

ATLANTA — T.J. Watt might be the best football player on the planet right now. 

I understand that as a takeaway, that is not exactly a revelation to fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers, but after what he did to the Atlanta Falcons and Kirk Cousins in an 18-10 Steelers win on Sunday, it needs to be said.

Watt was a home-wrecker, literally and figuratively. He used his insane study habits to get a tell on Falcons center Drew Dalman that he was erroneously called for an offsides penalty.That’s how good T.J. Watt is. He got an NFL referee to admit he was wrong.

After having that takeaways taken away, he went back to beating Kaleb McGary, one of the best right tackles in the NFL, like he was an undrafted free agent from a junior college.

Watt and Larry Ogunjobi combined to pressure Cousins into throwing a game-changing interception to Dante Jackson, then Watt himself secured the victory with a sack on the final play.

“T.J. Watt is that kind of guy,” Falcons head coach Raheem Morris said. “He’s always going to go out there and cause those kind of problems. You’ve got to give him credit just being who he is … but you’ve got to go there and maintain him and can’t let him wreck the game. He was able to wreck it by getting that fumble recovery and also getting a couple of key sacks there too, to get those things going.”

The Steelers had an obvious plan for this game on offense — more on that in a bit — but that plan was also clearly reliant on having the best football player in the world on their side. The Steelers can go into a game in the second half up one score and feel like they have it won.

“He’s a game-wrecker,” cornerback Donte Jackson said.

Not only that, Watt seemed to breed energy. He had the Steelers fans in Atlanta whipping their Terrible Towels on every third down, repeatedly urging the crowd for more — 600 miles from Pittsburgh. 

The place was as loud when Watt crashed through the line for that game-winning sack as it was any time the Falcons were on defense. 

Game, wrecked. Home, wrecked. Incredible stuff. 

NOT JUST WATT

And it wasn’t just No. 90 doing all the heavy lifting. Ogunjobi had what might’ve been his best game in three seasons with the Steelers. Cam Heyward wrecked several running plays.

Rookie linebacker Payton Wilson showed off his sideline-to-sideline speed. Joey Porter Jr. held Drake London to two catches for 12 yards.

Then there’s Jackson and DeShon Elliott, the two new additions to the secondary. Neither were acquisitions this offseason that moved the needle. Jackson’s raised some eyebrows for who he was acquired for — Diontae Johnson — but not much for his ability.

But Jackson brought much-needed speed to the back end of the secondary. Elliott finally allowed the Steelers to play their three-safety Nickel, get Minkah Fitzpatrick back in center field, and has under-rated playmaking abilities himself.

Elliott and Jackson were awesome all preseason, and certainly turned my head multiple times, but I still didn’t hear any hype for their acquisitions, no matter how many times they led my camp reports.

De’Shon Elliott was one of the most under the radar savvy pickups ever. He’s a solid starter. And we’ve spent no time talking about him.

— Andrew Fillipponi (@ThePoniExpress) September 8, 2024

It seems like Elliott and Jackson were well aware of their understated arrivals.

“We had to step up. We had to prove that we’re Steelers, man,” Elliott said. “We’ve got Hall of Famers in the room. We’ve got freaking Minkah Fitzpatrick in there. We’ve gotta get our picks before he gets his. He gets his and then we’re gonna roll. If we all get our three or four, he can get his five or six and take us to the Super Bowl.”

“It’s a blessing to go out there and share a field with these types of players,” Jackson said. “You can’t help but go out there and do your part.”

THE WIZARD OF BOS

The other part of the game that stepped up for the Steelers was special teams. Chris Boswell was incredible, making all six of his field goals — one with Scotty Miller as his holder, and an NFL-record three from beyond 50 yards.

He also stepped up and hit a crucial punt when Cameron Johnston was controversially injured by Falcons wide receiver KhaDarel Hodge.

“Man, that was a great moment,” special teams captain Miles Killebrew said. “Bos is a true professional. To see him step up and do something so outside of his scope was very impressive.”

Killbrew was less impressed by the lack of a flag on Hodge, and the flag on him that led to Johnston’s gruesome-looking injury.

“[Hodge] kind of stumbled through,” Killebrew said. “It’s my job to keep him off the punter, so in that regard, I obviously fell short. I tried to just keep him on the ground, but he just kept going into the punter. It’s an unfortunate play. You hate to see a guy injured. I just hope for a quick recovery for Cam.”

Killebrew said he wasn’t sure if the officials could have called both the hold against him and roughing the kicker on Hodge if they wanted to.

Despite the injury, and one sloppily-covered punt, it was a very nice day for Steelers special teams. They held up their end of the conservative game plan, too. 

JUST DON’T WRECK

OK, enough beating around the bush. Let’s talk about the offense.

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is a father of three, with two of his kids in college and one just graduated.

I’m not pretending to have any special insight on Tomlin’s family dynamic. But at some point, one of his children, probably oldest son Dino, now a wide receiver at Boston College, got the keys to the family car for the first time.

Everyone remembers that first trip, right? The only thing all participants are focused on is pretty simple: just don’t crash.

The kid is terrified that they’ll never the car again. The parent is terrified that their just washed and waxed ride is going to come back in pieces — or worse.

Just start the engine, take it for a little spin, and don’t break anything.

That’s what the Steelers were hoping would happen with their starting offense on Monday, and it worked out just fine.

Justin Fields did not turn the ball over, and only a pair of mishandled snaps between him and Zach Frazier put the ball at risk at all.

When it came to decision-making, Fields was flawless — at least in terms of ball security. There were plenty of missed reads out there where more yards could have been gained. But that wasn’t point.

Tomlin made that clear from the first drive on, when the Steelers ran on third and medium to set up a 57-yard field goal. That’s playing it as close to the vest as possible.

And it worked. Boswell and the special teams came through. Watt and the defense came through. The Steelers won without scoring a touchdown. That’s not going to get it done very many weeks, but it did for this week.

Next week, perhaps they’ll get Jaylen Warren to full speed. Maybe Russell Wilson or Roman Wilson will return. Two-fifths of their offensive line won’t be making their first start.

The offense got better as the game went on. The first drive was a near-disaster, with the botched snap, missed throws by Fields, a wasted timeout and a drop all somehow ending up in a long field goal attempt.

It’s a huge credit to the Steelers that they didn’t let that poor start snowball.

“Just composure,” tight end Pat Freiermuth said. “We had some long guys on the offensive line. Just calming them down. That’s the reason we go to Latrobe, is to build that camaraderie. It’s a hard camp for a reason. I think we wore them down in that third, fourth quarter.”

That’s for sure. Their first drive of the fourth quarter was stellar: a 13-play, 72-yard affair that took over seven minutes off the clock.

The Falcons eventually stopped the drive on a 4th and 1 Fields sneak inside their own 10. But the drive certainly tilted the game toward the Steelers — and it happened without much loosening of the offensive game plan.

“That’s the Week 1, obviously,” Freiermuth said. “It was a positive direction, and we need to continue to build on it.”

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